I am the new Dark Knight, Hell-oh

Finally reached level 30. At 30, we can now unlock various advanced jobs. Being evil at heart, I chose the path of Dark Knight. [X)]


At Bastok, I discovered information about a certain Dark Knight spotted at Palborough Mines. So I travelled down on Chocobo and searched the place for him. I found Zeid, a Galkan Dark Knight, who gave me a 2-handed great sword: Chaosbringer. I was to kill 100 creatures with this sword.


Took me about an hour to kill 100 easy monsters outside Bastok. This sword had a delay of 666 which is roughly 10 seconds between each swing. A very slow weapon if you ask me. T_T


Then I travelled down to Beadeaux to seek Zeid again. He gave me some advice and afterwards, I was granted the job, Dark Knight. To get to Beadeaux, I had to travel across Passhow Marshlands. A great place for a picnic in real life. Minus the monsters of course.


Later that day, one of my LinkShell members had also attained level 30 and needed help to unlock his Samurai job. I joined in to help and so did some higher level seniors. The first part involved killing Forger and the second part, Guardian Tree at Sanctuary of Zi’Tah. A very beautiful forest. This was when I first met with my LinkShell holder, Apocalypse (Lv75 Dark Knight). Who aided us in killing the Guardian Tree.


Next day, helped Evasama unlock Summoner and Bard. First, we need to find a Carbuncle Ruby for each of us who wishes to unlock Summoner. A LS senior Bard helped with getting this rare ruby from the Leeches in Maze of Shakhrami. After a discovering it’s powers back in Windurst, we had to bring it to absorb from 7 different weather conditions, Cloudy, Sunny, Rain, Sandstorm, Windy, Thunder, Snow. Snow was the hardest to get.


Travelling around Vana’diel on Chocobos can be costly. Places like Jeuno where the demand is high, so is the rental for a Chocobo. Lucky the Bard quest we were unlocking gave us some rewards, a total of 5100 gil to fund our travels.



Damn goblin
Don't spot me don't spot me don't spot me.
Stuck in a tunnel between 2 goblins too tough for me to handle alone. One suddenly turned his back and started walking towards me. I panicked and tried hiding. Needless to say, he saw me and I died…


Guardian Tree
The second monster to kill to unlock Samurai


Rainbow
As we travelled across La’Theine Plateau, we saw a rainbow!

Kazham

We finally got to Kazham. Seems like it’s the homeland of the Mithras. Click on the thumbs for a much bigger picture.



Some pretty ladies.
As I head back to my Mog House to get stuff before leaving for my flight,
I came across a pretty Red Mage wearing spectacles.


Impressive view.
Impressive view.
An impressive view of the lands we flew over.


Around the deck.
Around the deck.
Some pictures of the airship.


She laughs.
Laughing Mithra


Another view during the day.
A clearer view during the day. This was our second flight back to Kazham.
We went back to Jeuno to buy a map.


First Death.
My first death in the Yuhtunga Jungles.
The bard in the background is playing us something from the top20 countdown! lol


Taking advantage.
Taking advantage of a helpless Mithran NPC.


I spent most of Sunday fishing. Sold the Bastore Sardines at 800gil a dozen, Quus at 500gil a dozen. They were sold off rather quickly. And I earned around 5000gil that day from just fishing. I needed the gil to buy a second-hand piece of body armour. Fishing skill LV 3!! [XD]

The Dark Dragon

Evasama and I accepted the 3 Kingdoms mission which requires me to
travel to the Windurst Consuls in San’doria and Bastok. I made the decision
to visit San’doria first. Our quest there was to defeat Warchief Vatgit at
Ghelsba Outpost. We found him and easily defeated him.


Then we travelled to Bastok on chocobos. We raced each other and the loser
has to pay the winner 100gil. I lost my direction easily at West Ronfaure, and
he took the lead. But at La Theine Plateau, Evasama made the mistake of taking a
longer route around the mountains and I took a shortcut through a valley. This
allowed a big gap between us with me in the lead. [XD]


At Bastok, we were told to investigate Palborough Mines. We made our way
safely to the Burning Circle, where we fought a Seeker and a Dark Dragon he
summoned. Our first attempt was a total failure. We died before we could take
down Seeker. Prepared, we went on a second attempt to defeat them. This time,
Seeker died but we got petrified by Dark Dragon’s skill “Petro Eyes”. We could
only stand there immobile, allowing the dragon to slowly claw us to
death.


3rd attempt proved to be better. This time we almost killed him. It
was a close battle between me and the dragon. I am very sure I could kill
him if only I could hit him once more. But Evasama ran out of MP and could not
heal me. 3rd attempt failed and I levelled down.


We decided to head back to Qufim and train ourselves to get stronger. It took
an hour to find some great party members. There was no casualty and we were
doing fine. It was this party where I met Tarutaru Goreth and Elvaan Dustyn,
both whom at the end of the levelling session, offered to help us fight the Dark
Dragon and his master. Needless to say, we defeated them with ease. [:D]

A photo of us, preparing to fight the dragon
A group photo of the party, prepared to fight.


First, the seeker.
First the seeker. Evasama casted Sleep on the Dark Dragon


Then the dragon
Dark Dragon
Dark Dragon
Then the Dark Dragon

My Adventure Begins

Added this new section of blog entries. It’s to blog the adventures of my other self in a fantasy world called Vana’Diel. The recent FFXI story I posted has been moved to this section, and it will be the first entry, for my FFXI blog. It is what inspired me to give more attention to adventuring than levelling. But still, without getting stronger, I cannot explore new areas without risk getting killed by them evil goblins.


This is Wyred, a level 24 Warrior aspiring to be a Dark Knight. I pledge allegiance to Windurst, home of the fucking cute Tarutarus [XD]. You should see them when they dance.


Inspired by the story in the first FFXI entry of my blog, I set out to search for the stone monuments as mentioned. The first one was relatively close to my starting point. To begin with, I accepted the quest from the Mayor of Selbina to search Vana’Diel for various stone monuments which contains text left behind by an certain adventurer, Gwinheim Ironheart.


As I made my way across the sandy beaches of Valkurm Dunes, headed to my first location, a level 10 Tarutaru Black Mage approached me for help. He asked if I could escort him to San D’oria, home of the Elvaans. Since we happen to be travelling on the same path, I agreed to help.


My destination was West Ronfaure. To get there, we had to travel through La Theine Plateau. La Theine is littered with aggressive goblins and orcs which the little one could not possibly handle by himself. But it is also a beautiful countryside with trees.


As we set foot on West Ronfaure, we parted. The insects and monsters here are easy enough and seldom aggressive. He was headed to King Ranperre’s Tomb. And I’m to search around the forest for a stone monument. It was covered by walls that used to be part of a building. Trees and plants have already grown everywhere. I used the clay given to me by the Mayor to make a copy of the message on the monument…


    “It’s been 10 years since I last stepped on this land. The Orcs who have been dwelling far up north have started to show some signs of activity, and that worries me a lot. This kingdom’s very fabric of livelihood and pride lies in this forest. But the Elvaans are a race that are very proud of their own culture and treat the others as crude lower-class barbarians. They think the power of the Orcs is too insignificant and is no match against their chivalry. But, let this old man prophesize, that one day in the near future, tens of thousands… no… hundreds of thousands of Orc soldiers will invade the forest and take over this lush and beautiful environment. Though it is wishful thinking on my part, I hope someone who is kind enough to take time to read my plea on this engraving, would take heed of my warning.”


C.E. 761
Gwinheim Ironheart


Final Fantasy XI

I had plans to collect quest items with a friend so I did not proceed to help the Mayor visit the remaining monuments. But this quest, will be accomplished slowly, one step at a time.

A Final Fantasy XI Story

A very touching FFXI story for everyone. Nothing much to blog these days for I’m rather pissed at some people who can’t put up a good argument or carry out a discussion in forums. Some people just start considering it a flaming session when there’s no abusives or anything hurled. Just someone writing a counter statement to another person’s words. Perhaps my perception of “flaming” in forums are wrong?


Anyways, enjoy the story. I’m hosting the flash on my own, the text inside is Japanese, the following translation provided by someone else. I made a few edits to make it easier to understand what’s going on for those who don’t play this wonderful game. At the end of the flash, with my meagre understanding of Japanese, I assumed it was not a true story. Nevertheless, it’s still a good story.


Flash: Meeting Again – nice BGM and screenshots from the game.


Notes:
LinkShell – A communication system. Whoever has the LinkPearl to this LinkShell can send messages to everyone else on the LinkShell.
Jobs/Subjobs – Classes. You can choose/switch between Warrior, White Mage, Dark Knight, Summoner, Thief and some more. Each job gives you a special set of skills. You can assign a second job as a supplement to your main job, giving you access to skills on your subjob. To unlock subjobs, players have to reach level 18 and acquire 3 quest items.
Chat Colors – /tell is the command to message another person. /ls for messaging everyone in the LinkShell. Both are differentiated by colors, /tell in purple, /ls in green. The color mentioned in the flash is red, so I’ll leave it as it is.


Story was originally written in Japanese. All credits given to the person who wrote this and Jomachine of Sylph who translated it.

————————————————————
First time came to Valkurm Dunes, I saw a Taru White Mage among the group of strangers.
I was a Warrior, at that time I didn’t even know what SkillChain was.
Competition for Subjob quest items was very intense, and it was common that the Ghouls at Dunes were claimed immediately once they had spawned.
Every night, we searched for the items endlessly. Without knowing too much, we had a static party settled down.
Warrior, Warrior, Monk, White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage.
And finally, we had gathered complete subjob items for everyone.
Already with each other for so long, we decided to level all our subjobs together.

First time went to Jeuno, twice we had all died on the road.
I still remember clearly the sound of our cheers when we got to Jeuno after all the obstacles we went through.
In order to celebrate the moment, we sold everything we had for some money to buy a LinkShell.
The leader was assigned to the Taru White Mage who lost on the /random dice.

We had such a good time…
Hoping it could always stay that way, never changed…

But. When did this start to change? Maybe it’s when the Taru White Mage learned the Teleport magic.
Gradually, everyone drifted away.
Taru White Mage was the reason.
Always quiet and calm, she started to avoid daily repetitive, killing, mad levelling partying.
To those members who wanted to get strong, powerful, high-level faster, she began to have troubles to get along with them.
The level difference was too wide.
One day, she suddenly told us her decision….
“I am so sorry. I have no use to everyone anymore. Please find another White Mage….”
Actually before she even made her announcement, our members already started to fall apart.
Secretly competing with each other by outlevelling, again and again.
Now as I recall, I still don’t understand why I was so desperate to level.
Maybe, it’s because of the burning desire to attain greater power, I think.
Two people left the LinkShell, and later on I joined another LinkShell.

……

At last, I maxed my warrior in levels. It was still quite some time before the release of Rise of Zilart expansion.
Having completed my initial goal, I started leveling THF(Thief job) in order to make more money.
As soon as the Rise of Zilart has released, my THF already reached lvl 58.
Thinking to explore the new zones and considering THF had the ability to flee from dangerous situations, I decided to go as THF.

Coming back to hometown Bastok, went through the Korroloka Tunnel, I arrived at Altepa Desert.
No map. No direction. I had no idea what to expect.
I just wondered around and see what would happen.
Suddenly, I saw the Telepoint-Altepa.
At the same time, there is something next to it.

Yes, it’s the long forgotten Taru White Mage.
She was in complete AF (Artifact Armor), sitting there alone quietly.
Next to her name, is a very familiar LinkShell color.
Not possible…. there are too many LinkShells with similar colors.
But somehow, my intuition told me it’s the one we had long ago.
She saw me, and smiled.
Then, used /tell and said…..

“Haven’t seen you in a long time. You look good ^^”

Maybe she found the awkwardness in the air, she did a /cry emote.

“I was so sorry that time, I wished I could apologize to everyone. One day, if we meet again. But I need to tell you something. “

Bathing in the purple light from Telepoint-Crystal, she started to tell her story slowly.
What happen after that. What she was thinking that time.

She, was an “adventurer” to the land of Vana’Diel, she said.
Of course, same thing to me, I thought.
But the way she understood about adventure seemed to be different than mine.

“It was really fun when we were at Dunes. In a world we had no sense of where to go, we found our path together.”
“But ever since we came to Jeuno, we were doing samething over and over again everyday. We didn’t have any spare time.”
“After I learned the Teleport magic, I always thought we could go someplace interesting as one. But everyone was only into levelling……”

“I, I just want to hang around in this world. I know, maybe at somewhere, there must be a great scenery I have yet to see. If we could all share that moment, would be so wonderful. At least, that’s what I thought.”
“Remember the first time we saw the rainbow at LaTheine Plateau? I still remembered how excited we were, never forgot. I wished we could all did this once again, just like the old times…”


At this point, I am shocked…

Indeed, first time we went to Jeuno, it was very exciting. But after that, everytime I saw new zones, did I still have the same feeling?
Even if I arrived at a new place, it’s just another hunting place to me.
Those Momument Stones detailed the story of each zone, to me, is just another cumbersome obstacle to obtain map of the Crawler’s Nest.
Since when, I have lost the enthusiasm to adventure?

The original LinkShell we created, BLM (Black Mage) was the one who insisted he would stay until the end.
But now, she is the only one left, alone by herself.
Even though, she said she still wanted to keep it equipped.

“Because, this is a special LinkShell”
“Although there were many invites to other LS, but I politely rejected them all. One day if someone comes back, I can say ‘Okaeri’ (Welcome home) to him.”


I felt ashamed. Until now, I never even thought of her once, already forgot about her in memory. Not to mention other members. I even dropped the Link Pearl long ago.

“Walking around in this world by myself. Everytime I saw something new, I always typed in what I discovered in LS chat, even though it ended up talking to myself only. w” (w means “warau” Japanese version of lol “laugh out loud”)

“I discovered many many stories. Like the history of Davoi, Magic Towers at Beaucedine Glacier and Sarutabaruta……”
The Taru White Mage kept talking to me the stories that perhaps no one would even pay attention to until now.
In the chat window, red texts of her /tells started to fill up slowly.
At the sametime, I felt envious of her.
Her expression was so real and whole-hearted.
I already lost the sense of adventure, but she still kept it in her heart.

Nervously, I asked her.
If it’s alright, could you once again, give me a Link Pearl? I asked.
Next time if you travel around, please take me with you.
I know it is a very shameful, selfish request.

She smiled, and request to Trade.

It’s a pearl with the most memorable color. I equipped it right away.
In the chat window, a green line of text slowly flowed in.

“Okaerinasai. And welcome to the adventure world of Vana’Diel”

I’m a sucker for these kind of stories. [X(]